Thursday, May 19, 2016

Book Review- Mara, Daughter of the Nile

Synopsis from Goodreads: Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom. In order to gain it, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies - each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt. Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters, the noble Sheftu, and she starts to believe in his plans of restoring Thutmose III to the throne. But just when Mara is ready to offer Sheftu her help and her heart, her duplicity is discovered, and a battle ensues in which both Mara's life and the fate of Egypt are at stake.

It had been a long time since I read Mara, Daughter of the Nile for the first time so I had few memories of it. I did remember my cousin loving it and my being not as crazy about it as she was. I am now though!
Mara, Daughter of the Nile is like a classic YA.... which sounds weird but it's true. It's a historical novel but not horribly historically accurate I'm given to understand so take the history with a grain of salt. The descriptions of Egypt however are spot on and absolutely beautiful. The romance and intrigue is what made it so enjoyable for me though. Sheftu and Mara are a little like Han Solo and Princess Leia, but in this case Sheftu is royalty and Mara is low class. Their dynamic is similar though. The book had enough twists and turns to keep you wondering what is going to happen the whole time. Mara's wit and ingenuity are commendable. Sheftu I wasn't sure about at first but as the book when you got to see more of his soft side and he grew on me a lot.
Overall I enjoyed this re-read and wholeheartedly recommend it for a fun and intriguing read!

2 comments:

This is one of my and my sisters' favorite historical fictions stories (and one of our favorite heroes). During a family road-trip my sisters decided to put each of us in a time period, and they eventually condescended to let mine be Egypt.

I am a young Christian woman seeking to do the will of God in all I say do and think. I love reading, crocheting, Doctor Who and drinking tea. Currently, I work as a nurse in a hospital. I'm recently married and loving it!